Abberton Spoonies






Sad but glad! This year’s first was a spectacular first for Essex and is a continuing success story for Spoonbills in the east of the country. However, the family have probably moved off to join a colony somewhere along the eastern side of the country but it would be lovely to see a periodic return, especially at the start of next year’s nesting season. 

They always amaze me, wherever I have seen them in the country, whether it has been at Frampton Marshes, Lincolnshire, Titchwell Marshes, Norfolk, Havergate Island, Suffolk, Arne in Dorset or my local reserve at Amwell in Hertfordshire and am amazed by the almost alien appearance of these birds, which I should only be seeing on the TV on wildlife documentaries from around the world. Despite the ‘tongue in cheek’ comment from a fellow birder at Abberton a couple of weeks back that the young have a face that only a mother could love, I totally disagree.

Surrounded by a rookery of continually squabbling Little egrets, the Spoonbill family thrived. Whether that was an ideal environment for them, I am not sure but it certainly provided safety in numbers, which would have given protection from inquisitive and opportunistic corvids or any of our larger raptors. Maybe two or three breeding pairs will create a colony at Abberton next year. 

The ‘banjo billed’ birds will certainly have competition for space from Little and Great egrets, not to mention the large number of Cormorants and Grey Herons. Whether or not there would be competition for food from these birds, I doubt as they are unique feeders. 

I have learned that rather than being a success attributable to global warming, they are merely reclaiming ground which saw the Spoonbill’s absence from the U.K. for about 400 years. There are certainly now Spoonbills here in the U.K. the year round but many will spend the coldest months in the Southern Mediterranean, returning to the U.K. from February.

Whether we cease to report Spoonbills as rare species in the near future or not, their recent success has been phenomenal and arguably as astronomic as Great White egrets. Roll on 2022!



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